


Be Ready and Be Brave

by yet_intrepid



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Child Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, Hunk and Keith are Not Siblings, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Multi, Remarriage, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Shiro Week 2017, Shiro and Hunk are Siblings, it's complicated - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 13:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12818934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yet_intrepid/pseuds/yet_intrepid
Summary: “Yeah,” says Shiro. “Your mom seems chill.”“She’s really chill,” Hunk says. “She gets stressed a lot, though. Or she did. She was working two jobs before. But she’s great; I love her.”And then he looks at Shiro expectantly, like he’s expecting Shiro to praise his dad in turn. And Shiro wants to. He does. But he can’t get words out of his throat.





	Be Ready and Be Brave

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This fic is really personal to me, so I feel shy about putting it out here. But as an abuse survivor with a complex trauma disorder, I wanted to explore what Shiro would look like as a character if his trauma were more like mine. 
> 
> 2\. Please read carefully if you have any triggers related to abuse or homophobia. This fic is written from the POV of someone who has not let labeled their experiences as abusive, and thus there's a lot of self-blame in the narrative. These are the opinions of a gaslighted character, not of the author.
> 
> 3\. There isn't a happy ending yet. I'm planning some more oneshots in this series, which will lead to a happier point of closure, but just for the record--what there is so far is on the bitter end of bittersweet.
> 
> 4\. Title is from "Magpie" by the Mountain Goats: "and when the cherry's white with blossom / be ready and be brave / and remember what we had here / when there was something left to save."

“Your, uh, your dad seems nice.”

The teen standing in the middle of the living room peers nervously at Shiro, who catches the glance over his shoulder as he turns from locking the deadbolt on the front door. Shiro’s mom and Hunk’s dad have just made their honeymoon getaway, and it’s just the two of them here in the big house Shiro’s dad owns.

Here at home, that is. Shiro knows he’s supposed to think of it as home. His dad has primary custody of him, after all.

He checks the deadbolt one more time, then tries to smile at Hunk. “Nah, your mom’s cooler for sure.”

“She is pretty cool,” Hunk agrees. He shifts from foot to foot, twirls his fingers. Shiro wonders if he’s always anxious or if it’s the circumstances. “But we’re not, you know, rich. Like you guys.”

Shiro shrugs. “They got married though, right? That means you are now.”

“Guess that’s true,” says Hunk. He tries to smile too. “So uh, what are you gonna do tonight?”

“Homework,” Shiro lies smoothly. Or partly lies, anyway. He does have a pile of work to do, pushed away during the wedding preparations despite how nervous he’d been that his dad would realize Shiro wasn’t keeping up as well as he should. There was just too much to do.

There was so much to do that he hasn’t been able to call Keith.

So yeah, homework. But not _just_ homework.

Hunk shifts uncomfortably again, and then Shiro notices what he’s looking at.

“It’s my hand, huh,” he says. It’s always the hand. “Sorry, I know it’s weird. I got in a car accident a couple years ago—you maybe heard about it at school?”

“Yeah,” says Hunk. “Sorry man, I don’t wanna get all up in your private business or anything, I just—I really like tech stuff? I wanna go to college for engineering one day. So, you know…I know it’s probably not fun having to deal with that shit but I think prosthetics are cool and…”

He goes on, but Shiro doesn’t hear him. He doesn’t hear anything past the word _shit_ , because when he hears it something inside him goes reeling and flat all at once.

“Uh, Hunk?” he manages to say. “You—you can’t—my dad doesn’t like it if I swear. I don’t know if he told you and I know it’s different since you know, your mom, but also—”

“Shit,” Hunk says again, and then his hands fly to his mouth. “Um. Shoot? Sorry! He didn’t tell me but I probably should’ve figured; most grown-ups aren’t as chill about it as my mom.”

“Yeah,” says Shiro. “Your mom seems chill.”

“She’s really chill,” Hunk says. “She gets stressed a lot, though. Or she did. She was working two jobs before. But she’s great; I love her.”

And then he looks at Shiro expectantly, like he’s expecting Shiro to praise his dad in turn. And Shiro wants to. He does. But he can’t get words out of his throat.

It’s stupid. It’s so stupid. His dad is—yeah, they don’t get along, but that’s as much Shiro’s fault as anything, isn’t it? If Shiro were a better student, if he weren’t such a fuckup, things would be better.

“Do you have homework?” Shiro asks, at a loss for anything else to say.

“Yeah,” Hunk says. “You wanna hang out and work? Like a party, but a homework party. Or something.”

Shiro swallows. He doesn’t really want to, but that’s just because he doesn’t really want to do anything at all. Even calling Keith seems like too much energy. He just wants to get into bed and hide.

But he’s too old for that, so he smiles at Hunk again.

“Sure,” he says, and Hunk’s returning smile is dazzling bright. So Shiro runs up to his room, gets his homework and laptop, and comes back downstairs to settle on one of the couches. Hunk’s already there, sitting on the floor with a textbook open in his lap.

Shiro peers at the cover. “Chemistry?”

Hunk groans. “It’s so boring. I learned this stuff in like, seventh grade.”

“Whoa, really?” Shiro already knows Hunk’s smart, of course; their parents were engaged for six months, and they’re in the same high school. But still, seventh grade? AP chem? Shiro barely scraped a B in AP Chem.

Hunk doesn’t seem to notice Shiro’s amazement. “Yeah. I could do this stuff in my sleep, man. But Mrs. Frank gives quizzes every period and they ask stupid things about what page things were on and what examples the book used, so I gotta read it.”

Those quizzes had saved Shiro’s ass. He’d known they were bullshit as a teaching method, but he hadn’t complained, because anything that would keep his dad off his back even a little was welcome. “That sucks,” he manages, pushing away the bad memories. He’s done with chem now.

Hunk says something else, but Shiro’s phone vibrates with a text and he leaps for it immediately, ignoring Hunk.

**Keith:** how’d it go?

**Keith:** the wedding I mean

Shiro frowns.

**Shiro:** Fine.

**Keith:** …

“Who’re you texting?” Hunk asks, cheerfully. “Allura?”

“Nah,” Shiro says, shrugging. He should text Allura though. They’re still technically dating, even if Shiro wasn’t allowed to see her much over the summer. Too much wedding prep, too few excuses. At least during the school year, he sees her in class. And his dad usually buys the study session excuse. In the summer, though, it’s all yard work and his job at the pet store and sitting around the house because the _your friends are always welcome to come over_ line gets pulled every time he wants to go out but forgotten when he actually brings someone home. So the first two weeks of the new semester haven’t done much for his and Allura’s relationship.

**Keith:** that bad huh

**Keith:** you wanna talk?

**Shiro:** It was fine. Doing homework now.

**Keith:** boo homework

Shiro sighs again. Hunk raises his eyebrows, but Shiro ignores that too.

**Keith:** come on dude we haven’t actually talked in like two weeks

**Shiro:** If I don’t master AP Calc by the time dad gets back, it’ll be a disaster.

Keith doesn’t respond right away. The read receipt comes up, but the typing bubble doesn’t. Shiro wonders if he shouldn’t have said that. He doesn’t want Keith to worry.

He opens up his textbook and flips to the right page of notes, but he can’t bring himself to get started on the problems he’s been assigned. Stupid, he tells himself. Stupid, lazy—

The voice in his head sounds exactly like his dad’s.

“Calc, huh?” says Hunk.

Shiro startles back into the present and nods. “I suck at math. But you probably know that by now.”

“Nah man,” says Hunk. “I’m pretty sure it’s just that Mr. Smith couldn’t explain something as simple as like, I dunno, what a variable is? Or something? In a way that would make any sense. And haven’t you had him a couple years in a row?”

“Yeah,” Shiro grumbles. “He’s an asshole, too. He can hear your phone vibrate even when it’s in your backpack.”

“Yeah, Lance gets into trouble for that all the time. Although,” Hunk concedes, “his phone usually isn’t in his backpack.”

Shiro squints at his homework, then looks back at Hunk again. “You and Lance—no, sorry, never mind.”

“No, no, me and Lance what?” Hunk grins. “You can ask.”

Shiro bites his lip. “Are you into each other?”

“Dude.” Hunk stares at him. “We’ve been dating for three years.”

“Three years?”

“Yep.”

“Does—does your mom know?”

“Yeah, of course.” Hunk squints at Shiro the same way Shiro was looking at his homework: dubious, cautious. “Why would I keep that a secret?”

“Hunk,” Shiro says. He shuts his textbook and moves off the couch, sitting on the floor at Hunk’s shoulder. “Hunk, did she tell Dad about it?”

“Of course not,” Hunk says. He still looks bewildered, as if these questions are bizarre. And maybe they are. Shiro wouldn’t know. He doesn’t have much to compare to, does he? “She said it was up to me when I come out to him.”

Shiro swallows. “You’re…gonna come out to him?”

“I mean, eventually. We’ve hardly had many chances to talk, you know? I don’t wanna just drop it in the middle of a conversation one day. Seems rude.”

“Hunk,” Shiro says again. He can feel himself getting pale, his hands clammy. “You—you can’t.”

Hunk’s eyebrows rise slowly. “Why not?”

Shiro doesn’t know where to start explaining. He doesn’t wanna scare Hunk; he doesn’t want to taint his new stepbrother’s experience of the family with his own bullshit. But he also has to keep the kid safe, doesn’t he?

“My dad’s—he’s not affirming,” Shiro finally manages around the tightness of his throat.

Understatement of the goddamn year. Shiro remembers the time he and Matt got found holding hands. They were twelve. Shiro spent the next month in disgrace, and the next summer in conversion therapy. It was years before his dad let him hang out at the Holts’ house again, and he still hasn’t tried bringing Matt over. Not even to study. Not even with Allura there too.

Not once in six years.

“Oh,” says Hunk. “But I mean, he’s gotta learn sometime, doesn’t he?”

“I’ve tried,” Shiro says.

“Oh,” says Hunk. “But—”

“Hunk.” Shiro runs a desperate hand through his hair. “Please. Believe me. I’ve _tried_.”

 “Oh,” says Hunk. He frowns at his homework, which is still lying open on his lap. “But maybe it’d be different? I mean, he doesn’t know me very well but I’m his kid now, right? It’s different when your kid is gay than just like…in the abstract. Right?”

Shiro swallows. “It—it wasn’t abstract,” he admits. “Hunk, I’m begging you. Don’t. He’ll never let you see Lance outside of school again.”

Silence falls heavy between them, almost a physical weight.

“So you,” Hunk starts.

“Yes,” says Shiro. “Like I said, I’ve _tried_.”

Hunk’s face droops. “Damn,” he mutters, and this time Shiro doesn’t correct him. It doesn’t seem kind. “Okay, don’t take this the wrong way, but I—I had a bad vibe about this. You know? This whole wedding thing. And I talked to my mom about it but she was so sure and she’s so in love and she told me that like…it’ll be so good and we can spend more time together because she won’t have to work as much, and all that, and I was just? Happy that she was happy? But _man_ did I have a bad feeling. Man.”

“I’m sorry,” says Shiro.

“For what?” Hunk squints at him again.

“I don’t know,” Shiro says. “I should’ve—warned your mom, or something. I don’t know.”

“Eh, she’s a grownup,” Hunk says. “She’s responsible for her own choices, right? Besides, hey, now we can be closeted together. Better than by yourself.”

Shiro smiles weakly. “Yeah, I guess.”

Across the room, his phone buzzes. He dives for it.

**Keith:** are you ok

**Shiro:** What do you mean?

**Keith:** things with dad

Shiro types. Erases. Types, erases, types.

**Shiro:** Fine for now.

**Keith:** for now?

**Shiro:** You know what it’s like.

**Keith:** let me know when it blows up, okay

**Keith:** Mom or I can come get you

**Shiro:** I’ll be fine.

**Keith:** shut the fuck up

**Shiro:** Whatever. See you at school.

Shiro shoves his phone into his pocket. “Hey Hunk?”

“Yeah?”

“Can, uh. Can you help me with calc?”

Hunk’s face lights up again. “Sure!”

And as they bend over the homework together, Shiro tells himself that at least his dad will be on that honeymoon for the next week. At least for the next week, he’s got nothing to be afraid of. And after that, well. He’ll figure it out.

He always does.

\----

**Shiro:** Hey cutie :)

**Allura:** cutie yourself ;) how was the wedding?

**Shiro:** Exhausting. But over.

**Allura:** does that mean we can study together today?

**Shiro:** Yeah!

**Allura:** nice ;)

**Shiro:** Allura no

**Allura:** Allura yes

**Allura:** but seriously, I’ve got stuff to talk to you about

Shiro’s heart thuds wildly. He doesn’t know why that sentence scares him, but it does. Oh God, he thinks. Oh God. She’s going to break up with him.

Is she? With winky faces just two texts up?

Shiro sighs and swings his legs out of bed, running a hand through his messy hair as he tosses on a t-shirt and heads down the hall to the bathroom.

It’s shut, the shower running.

Oh right. Hunk. Somebody else living in the room that’s been empty since Keith went to live with their mom.

 Shiro sighs again and makes his way down the stairs to the visitor’s half-bath.

**Allura:** also don’t worry it’s not bad

**Shiro:** Couldn’t you have told me that right away lmao

**Allura:** sorry!!! <3

**Shiro:** <3

When he finishes in the bathroom, he goes to the kitchen. There’s leftover wedding cake in the fridge, which seems appealing. Hunk’s mom said they could eat it, and his dad won’t know he had it at breakfast, right? Like, sure, he has a way of knowing almost everything Shiro does wrong, but there’s no way he could figure that out from his timeshare in the Caribbean.

Shiro pulls out the cake, cuts himself a generous slice, and sits down in the breakfast nook to eat it with his hands. It tastes like chocolate and rebellion, and he savors it.

**Allura:** what time works for you?

Shiro licks frosting off his thumb.

**Shiro:** Anytime, honestly

**Allura:** ;)

**Shiro:** ...

**Allura:** >:c you’re no fun

Shiro crams more cake into his mouth. He wonders again if she’s going to break up with him and, if she is, if it’s because he’s no fun. He tries. But he can’t get himself to go very far physically, and he’s not sure if it’s because he’s not attracted to Allura or if it’s because he’s just scared.

He thinks he’s bi. Probably. But who knows. Maybe after conversion therapy, he just isn’t…anything, anymore. But either way, really, he thinks Allura is gorgeous and fun and intelligent and amazing. It’s not that he doesn’t _want_ to want to have sex with her. It’s just that—

Yeah. He’s scared. His dad would flip out if Shiro had sex. Even straight sex. And somehow, his dad always seems to know everything Shiro does wrong.

Well, part of that is that he goes through Shiro’s texts. Shiro tried putting a passcode on his phone once, and the day his dad found out was a really bad one. He’s not stupid enough to do that again. He’s not stupid enough to delete every text he gets, either, because that looks suspicious. He just…edits. Carefully.

He wonders if he should delete the winky faces.

“Morning,” says a voice from behind him, and Shiro almost jumps before he remembers it’s Hunk. “Cake for breakfast?”

Shiro blushes. “Yeah.”

“Nice,” says Hunk. He cuts himself a slice, too. “Hey, it’s cool if Lance picks me up, right? We’re gonna hang out with Pidge and Keith.”

Keith.

Shiro wipes a hand across his cake-smeared mouth. “When?”

“This afternoon. Maybe two?”

“Can—” Shiro hesitates. “You mind if I come? Not because I wanna spy on you, or whatever. I just haven’t talked to Keith in a while.”

“Dude!” Hunk lights up. “Yes! We’re gonna hang out at the arcade, maybe get ice cream and wander around.”

 “Sounds good.” Shiro grins back at him. “Allura and I are going to do homework this morning, but we should be done by two.”

“Nice. Matt’s driving, Pidge said. Should be enough room for you, and Allura if she wants to come; he drives that van, remember?”

Shiro does remember. He remembers so many things, and his stomach flips over. Yeah, he should see if Allura will come. Keep his mind off his longstanding, impossible-to-banish crush on Matt Holt.

He likes Allura. He does, a lot, even if he can’t get himself to go past first base with her. But he likes Matt, too, and—

Nope, he tells himself firmly. He’s trying too hard to get away to college. He’s not going to fuck that up now by daydreaming about a boy and getting sent back to conversion therapy.

He’s not. He’s not.

“Shiro?” Hunk is peering at him over a plate of cake. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” says Shiro. “I’m fine.”

He’s not. He’s really, really not.

By the time they both finish eating their cake and Shiro takes a quick shower, Allura’s ringing the doorbell. Shiro finishes up reattaching his prosthetic and runs down the stairs, wet hair flinging droplets of water everywhere.

“Hey,” he says, leaning against the doorframe to smile at her.

“Hey yourself,” says Allura. “Are you going to let me in or what?”

Shiro laughs, and she ducks under his arm, brushing against his hip as she steps into the entryway. She swings off her heavy backpack like it’s nothing and lands it lightly on one of the living room couches.

“You want to work on calc?” she asks.

“Yeah,” says Shiro. “I finished some of it yesterday, but I’m not done yet. And then I have economics and AP Euro.”

“Eww,” says Allura. “Economics? Why?”

Shiro shrugs. “It fit my schedule.”

“Third period, right? AP Lit is at the same time.”

“My dad wanted me in econ,” Shiro confesses, with another shrug to make it seem like he doesn’t care. “It’s manlier or more useful or something.”

“Fuck manliness,” says Allura. “No offense.”

Shiro winces at the f-bomb, half-expecting his dad to appear from around the corner, but scolds himself for being jumpy and manages a shaky laugh. “None taken,” he says. “Agreed, actually.”

“Good,” says Allura. She elbows him teasingly in the ribs. “But also, you know, _fuck_ manliness.”

Shiro blushes. “Allura no,” he says, over Hunk’s background laughter.

“Allura yes.” She drops it, though, and goes to open her backpack. “All right, let’s get some work done.”

Hunk sits down with them and they all buckle down, because tomorrow is Monday and there’s so much to do, even just two weeks into the semester. They make sandwiches around noon, then get distracted arguing about the Romeo and Juliet, which Hunk’s reading for his English class. Then that just devolves into them reading scenes in exaggerated voices; they learn that Hunk makes an amazing Friar Lawrence, and Allura makes Shiro read Romeo to her Juliet. He does, blushing and quiet, and Hunk hums romantic background music during the balcony scene, which Shiro finds totally unnecessary.

They’re in the middle of railing against Romeo’s impetuousness when the doorbell rings again. Shiro checks the time, and sure enough, it’s already two o’clock.

He opens the door. It’s Matt, with Keith, Pidge, and Lance grinning behind him.

“Hey nerd,” says Matt.

“Hey yourself,” Shiro answers. “Allura, Hunk, you ready?”

“Do we have enough seats?” Keith asks, over their responses and Hunk’s clattering upstairs for shoes.

“Seven of us, right?” answers Matt. “Yeah, we should.”

“Cool,” says Keith. He smiles at Shiro, but somehow that doesn’t keep him from looking concerned. “Gonna come have fun for once, huh?”

“Hey,” Shiro protests. “I have fun.”

It comes out more hollow than he means it to, and Keith and Matt both give him odd looks. This is interrupted, thankfully, by Hunk running back downstairs and barreling past Shiro to bear-hug Lance.

“Okay, okay,” says Matt. “Let’s make hay while the sun shines, or something. Get in the car, nerds.”

They pile into Matt’s mom’s van. Keith, Shiro, and Allura end up in the backseat, Shiro in the middle, and Allura grabs his hand. Keith keeps looking at him sidelong as Allura keeps up banter with Lance and Hunk, and Shiro tries to smile convincingly enough to allay his fears.

There’s nothing to be scared of, not right now. His dad doesn’t come home for a whole week. And he doesn’t want Keith to worry, anyway. That’s the whole reason their dad has custody of Shiro at all, so that Keith won’t have to worry. So Keith can live with their mom, safe and okay. So that when Shiro goes to college, he won’t leave anyone behind and in danger.

Then it hits him. Hunk. Hunk will be left behind.

Shiro swallows hard and tells himself he’ll figure it out later. But he already knows: his grand plans of colleges far away are over.

He can’t leave Hunk. He doesn’t know why it seems like such a big deal, especially when the things his dad does aren’t really all that big. But he can’t stand the thought of Hunk having to deal with it alone, and he already knows he’s not going to leave.

Which means Allura and Matt will go away to school without him, while he does community college and commutes. While he stays in the house he’s always wanted to get away from.

It doesn’t matter, he tells himself, and pushes it from his mind.

\----

When they’ve worn themselves out with arcade games, everybody wanders down the street for ice cream. Shiro buys Allura’s, even though she always has more money than he does, because it feels good to do something for someone. The way she smiles at him after doesn’t hurt, either.

And he wouldn’t be getting butterflies at her smile if he didn’t love her, right?

They sit on the sidewalk outside the ice cream shop. Lance is teasing Hunk with terrible pick-up lines, Allura egging him on. Matt and Pidge are arguing about something Shiro can’t quite figure out. Somebody’s gaming system seems to be involved. And Keith is looking at Shiro, peering over his cup of vanilla soft-serve with gummy bears.

“You have weird taste in ice cream,” Shiro says to Keith, as he savors his own chocolate-and-caramel dessert. “Gummy bears? Really?”

Keith isn’t fazed. “You have weird taste in when you decide not to vent to your friends,” he says around a gummy bear.

“What?” says Shiro. He’s feigning the shock, but he’s a good actor. He has to be.

Keith sighs. “Last week when you lost your favorite t-shirt you did nothing but complain. Now that something serious is going on, you’ve clammed up.”

“How do you know something serious is going on?” Shiro retorts. “They got married. So what? I got a cool additional brother out of it.”

“Yeah,” Keith says, “and Dad got new people to boss around. You can’t tell me you’re not worried about that.”

Shiro casts a careful glance at Hunk, who’s got his hands twined gently through Lance’s hair as they share birthday cake ice cream, and sighs. Keith knows him too well.

“Yeah,” he admits. “I’m worried. But, you know, maybe it’ll be good for everyone. Maybe she can level Dad out a little.”

Keith just quirks a suspicious eyebrow.

“Okay,” Shiro admits. “Yeah, it’s gonna be bad. But what am I supposed to do? Call you every time I get a little boo-boo?”

As soon as he says it, he knows it’s the wrong phrase. Keith’s face clouds with anger.

“He’s hitting you again,” Keith says, quiet so no one else can hear. It’s only half a question.

“No,” says Shiro, voice just as low.

“When was the last time?” Keith insists.

“The time I told you about was the only time,” Shiro promises. “Two years ago. It hasn’t happened since.”

Keith bites his lip. Nods. “Okay,” he says. “But if he does—”

“He won’t,” says Shiro. “It’ll be fine, Keith, okay? You worry about you.”

“There’s nothing to worry about with me,” Keith snaps.

“There’s normal tenth-grade things to worry about,” Shiro says. “Classes. Soccer. Therapy. Dating, maybe.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Sure. And meanwhile, you get to worry about Dad being fucking abusive.”

“He’s not—” Shiro starts, but Keith interrupts.

“I don’t wanna hear it.” Keith digs his plastic spoon into his soft-serve much more savagely than necessary. Then, after a moment: “My therapist says he is. That Dad’s abusive.”

Shiro scoops up a bite of his own ice cream. He’s getting brain freeze, he thinks, or maybe it’s just a headache from having to think about all this.

He doesn’t want to think about it. He doesn’t want it to be true—even though he also does, desperately. But if it really is abuse, doesn’t that make Shiro even more guilty? Doesn’t it mean he should’ve protected Keith even better than if it was just Dad being kind of a jerk sometimes?

There was the time he got hit. But it was just once, and it wasn’t too bad. Shiro’s not such a baby as everyone seems to think. He was okay. He’s still okay. And he’s going to make sure that Hunk’s okay, too.

“If he does,” Keith says, low and urgent, “you have to tell someone. Okay?”

“Tell someone what?” teases Allura, breaking away from her laughter with Hunk to lean against Shiro’s shoulder. She presses a quick, chocolate-sweet kiss to his lips. “Are you keeping secrets, Shiro?”

“Never from you,” Shiro tells her, brushing his fingers along her jawline. She laughs; in the background, Pidge makes gagging noises.

Shiro hates himself for lying. But not as much, he thinks, as he’d hate himself for telling the truth. It’s bad enough Keith knows, after all. Bad enough that Hunk will inevitably learn. Shiro can’t let the word get out any further.

He couldn’t face the consequences if he did. But even more than that, he doesn’t think he could face his dad’s disappointment.

He doesn’t know if that’s good or if it’s bad, he realizes, as everybody troops back to Matt’s van. He’s supposed to love his father, make him proud. But is that more important than how he’s supposed to take care of Keith? Love him, protect him, trust him?

And not just Keith, either. Hunk is also his responsibility now.

But Shiro doesn’t know what’s more important, and he hates himself for that too.

He climbs into the backseat of the van, squeezes between Keith and Allura, and tries to lose himself in everyone’s laughter.


End file.
